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The Way Home: Even In Bitter Cold, "This Is What We Do"

Friday, January 31, 2014

The Way Home: Even In Bitter Cold, "This Is What We Do"

by

Abby Zimet

Much talk of inequality this week. But facts owe: It's been inhumanly cold, even in D.C., home to about 7,000 homeless people, at least six of whom have died of cold on the streets of the capitol of the richest country in the world, where the powerful "walk on by...They don’t even know we’re here.” While the numbers of homeless have declined in many other places, they are up 20% in D.C. Good-hearted, righteous minded people, and there are many, do what they can: They give out hot food, blankets, winter gear, they run a hypothermia hot line and van, they leave unused buses idling at night for sleeping, they find hotels for families - because there are so many, sometimes stretching beyond D.C. - and they watch out for their own, especially when longtime "campers" with a true "street warrior mentality" decide to tough it out under a bridge. But the real solution is still a home, what we all deserve. This week, homeless advocates launched "The Way Home," a campaign to end chronic homelessness by 2017. We wish them well. Meanwhile, wherever you live, help when you can.

Further

Surrounded by a massive police presence, the country's top law enforcement official told a group of carefully screened students at Georgetown's Law School that, "In this great land, the government does not tell you what to think or what to say." In his speech, only announced the day before, Sessions went on to denounce uppity knee-taking football players and defend his boss' call, hours before, for them to be fired. We may need to upgrade the ole Irony Alert buzzer. It can't keep up.